This relates generally to electronic devices, and more particularly, to electronic devices with displays.
Electronic devices often include displays. For example, cellular telephones and portable computers often include displays for presenting information to a user.
Liquid crystal displays contain a layer of liquid crystal material. Pixels in a liquid crystal display contain thin-film transistors and electrodes for applying electric fields to the liquid crystal material. The strength of the electric field in a pixel controls the polarization state of the liquid crystal material and thereby adjusts the brightness of the pixel.
Substrate layers such as color filter layers and thin-film transistor layers are used in liquid crystal displays. The thin-film transistor layer contains an array of the thin-film transistors that are used in controlling electric fields in the liquid crystal layer. The color filter layer contains an array of color filter elements such as red, blue, and green elements. The color filter layer provides the display with the ability to display color images.
In an assembled display, the layer of liquid crystal material is sandwiched between the thin-film transistor layer and the color filter layer. Alignment layers for aligning liquid crystals in the liquid crystal material cover the inner surface of the color filter layer and the upper surface of the thin-film transistor layer. An array of column spacers is formed in the liquid crystal layer between the color filter layer and the thin-film transistor layer to maintain a desired gap between the color filter layer and the thin-film transistor layer.
It can be challenging to design column spacers for a liquid crystal display. If care is not taken, the column spacers may not be sufficiently strong or may allow the alignment layers or other structures in a display to become damaged during use of the display.